Thursday’s House of Representatives’ passage of legislation designating the steelpan T&T’s national instrument was a fitting high note for MPs to launch their annual recess in the current second-to-last session of the term.
Even if Tourism Minister Randall Mitchell felt compelled to review UNC MP Michelle Benjamin’s contribution to the debate on the landmark bill, thus: “ It’s clear the MP could sour milk just by staring at it—have some sense of the occasion!” Mitchell fumed.
Mitchell battled similar UNC arguments at Thursday’s Senate, where the bill was also passed ahead of yesterday’s final sitting’s equally contentious debate.
Other events in the week’s daily Parliament sittings—rushing to conclude bills—have opened situations for the Government and Opposition which will be factored into respective planning for the final year, beginning post-recess in September.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley grinned on Monday after Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s surprise support for the Bail Bill.
Parallel with the preparation for Hurricane Beryl, the Government preparing for the worst and receiving the best fared similarly with the bill, where Persad-Bissessar’s move added to UNC’s own records.
The bill requiring the Opposition votes for passage served the Government’s need to show action on crime in a general election year and tested the opening offered by UNC MP Dr Rai Ragbir’s recent rank-breaking on the Whistleblower Bill. That prompted UNC MPs to support the subsequent Polygraph Bill.
Possible UNC division on the Bail Bill was outfoxed by Persad-Bissessar’s support, aiding UNC’s boast of assisting the anti-crime battle. Ragbir or not, Persad-Bissessar, who’s attacked the Government on security, would have become a further PNM target if she’d refused support.
Her move also showed UNC could not afford further damage amid the general election climate. Rowley’s latest election date hints—a cat and mouse game—signalled drawing it out, awaiting the next break (literally) offered. Shaping the year ahead, however, Rowley’s double-barrelled, multi-targeted statements on the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) audit and TTPS audit (2016-2021) on Firearms Users Licences (FULs)—guns gone wild—hold ominous signals.
TTPS officials say investigations into both continue. Whether more will be heard on audits at future Joint Select Committee meetings, as UNC’s Roodal Moonilal requested, remains ahead. Findings spotlight the Government’s due diligence and oversight weaknesses in the critical security sector, as confirmed also by National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds’ “things happen” perspective.
Rowley prefaced statements on the TTPS FULs audit, noting ex-CoP Gary Griffith’s 2023 court action blocked publicising an earlier FULs report by current/retired police officers (Craig Report).
The court ordered the contents to be investigated by TTPS, and only after that could they be revealed.
Whether the FULs audit Rowley cited on Wednesday paves the way for the Craig Report’s revelation is ahead. Whatever the implication for Griffith, in hyper-defence mode, speaking ahead today.
UNC’s recouping from the fallout with Ragbir and his United Patriots colleagues, with its mobilisation now involving airing labour’s issues, government members tossed Ragbir’s rank-breaking action at UNC during debates. While useful for manipulation, the Government painfully learned the risks of the defector strategy.
Ragbir says he’ll attend UNC’s disciplinary hearing of his matter when summoned: “God will be with me and certainly senior counsel. I await word from my political leader.”
Both sides, which supported this week’s bills, will have to hope these work and await whether the Whistleblower Protection Bill figures as a political weapon. Three anti-crime bills were shifted to the next session’s agenda, including long-pending Tobago autonomy bills.
Spared Hurricane Beryl’s landfall “hit”, tracking showed T&T escaped being “carriacoued”: Beryl passed in the sea away from southern Barbados and closer to north Tobago, throwing only rain feeder bands and extended winds T&T’s way.
Casualties included the Tobago People’s Party (TPP) election, expected tomorrow, TPP officials said. With a week’s advance warning via a 6.2-magnitude earthquake, Beryl’s record strength and timing brought lessons beyond that God’s Trini passport is only one of His many.
Meteorologists attributed Beryl to warmer sea levels, usually found later in hurricane season. Unless ways are found to cool climate-changing temperatures, T&T’s been warned: prepare. Similarly, on Rowley’s note, a week’s a long time in politics; it’ll be a working recess for both sides on official election footing in five weeks.